This episode was masterfully done. If it made you feel uncomfortable, it did its job. Props to Aka Akasaka and his editing team for having the guts to make a story like this, bringing light to a serious issue. This is what cyberbullying and toxicity online can do. And the person doing it gets to hide behind an anonymous profile picture and is never the wiser the effects it can have on someone.
Hello from Japan. There have been various issues in Japan regarding this episode. First of all, it was not stated that it was based on a recent unfortunate incident that occurred in Japan. In a tweet by the original author, there is a statement that he did not aim for it and that the timing coincided, and in a tweet by the artist in charge of drawing, there is a statement that he was told to watch a romantic reality show about 4 months before the incident. In other words, I think the plot itself was already completed before the incident and coincided with the incident. Secondly, some people have told Ms. Kimura's mother that the anime is "taking advantage of her deceased daughter" while hiding the content of the anime. (I felt the intention to control the mother, as if you hid the important part of making up in the work). Therefore, since the mother criticized the work because she did not know the content, people have appeared who shout that it is a "bad anime that takes advantage of the deceased" just like in the manga, as well as radical fans (I personally do not feel like a fan anymore) who abuse the mother in response, saying "don't criticize without knowing the content". I have only three things to say to foreign anime fans. 1. Don't go around mentioning that it was based on the most recent incident, even though there is no statement that it was based on the most recent incident (as circumstantial evidence, it is likely to be a coincidence). 2. Don't speculate and don't attack others, not just in this case. 3. To genuinely enjoy anime. So, thank you very much for reading this long article. Please keep up the good work on your reaction videos. * Since this is a machine translation, it may be a little strange.
this episode also might have been heavily inspired by the real life case of Kimura Hana, she was a Japanese woman pro wrestler and she also entered a dating tv show called Terrece House. Long story short something happen in the show where she had a conflict with one of the male co-star, then she got bullied online, and unfortunately she wasn't as fortunate as Akane here. you can try to look into her if you want, there's a ton of videos here on youtube that you can watch about the topic
I read this after the episode, so freaking sad. I'm glad Akasaka could write a similar story but with a happier ending. Thank goodness for Aqua being there. My condolences to Kimura Hana and her family. Just awful.
I think what is actually scary about online abuse is that Ruby did the exact same thing in episode 1 and everyone laughed it off as "omg baby type die die die on twitter". Who knows, there could have been an Akane on the other side of the screen that time ... Now that we see the damage done, we condemn those commenters. But we rarely see ourselves (or at least the main characters like Ruby) as the villain, which might actually be true here.
Not to mention that earlier in the episode Ruby wanted/tried to make a tweet badmouthing a drink just because she didn't like it. It might seem like nothing at first, but when you compare it to the Akane incident... You can start to see the parallels.
Ruby was talking it back to toxic people online that were attacking an idol, they weren't anyone special that's dealing with a barrage of criticism like Akane was. There's a big difference between standing up for someone that's being attacked by a mob and a mob ganging up on an individual
Akane didn't slap Yuki. It's probably just that when she made that big motion to tell Yuki to layoff, Akane forgot she got those nail extension thing on her and did not gauge the distance correctly and accidentally scratched her face. Heavy episode, but great reaction. See you same time same place next week
I think everybody has the inner dark to thirsty the other's tragedy, that is such the bloody vicious humanity. Bro, it is so warm to highlight the last scene. GREAT JOB!!
This is a little silly, but when you said "even Ai did it too" when they were talking about ego surfing, it sounded for a sec like you were saying "oh yeah I used to search my name with cute after all the time." Which was just a little funny lol
This was my favorite arc while reading the manga. It just shows how real the internet is. I am a fan of Kimura Hana and it just saddens me that she was in that situation.
16:32 You and I can easily understand that you have to either laugh at the comments or just ignore them for the trolls they are...But for a young woman like that its WAYYY to easy to take them to heart. The more I watched this episode the more scared I got, Suicide is such a touchy subject to me and I was screaming at the screen when she was on the bridge like you man
To add to that, Akane's strong point is the ability to take criticism to heart. That's how she's been functioning as an actress, she was raised and trained to do that to perfect her trade (she's always taking notes and learning). This time it backfired and almost deleted her. That's not to mention she's only 17, in a Japanese society where the mindset is about blending in with the environment because they hate people who stand out. If you stand out and you're weak, you're doubly f***ed. Listening to people and adjusting yourself are almost survival skills.
The entrence of the BEST GIRL.. I started loving oshi no ko from this arc while reading the manga back in the day, they expose the real side of internet and Showbiz just amazing. More stuff gonna be exposed Zach it just gets better from here!
Talent agencies are pretty common in Japan so it's not weird for most people in TV or even streaming to be part of an agency. It's fairly common for RU-vidrs in America to be part of one too at least a group that promotes them for a cut. There are many benefits to being in an agency, without one it's actually hard to get work in some markets like Japan where trust is really important in business. Not everybody is doing RU-vid as a hobby or a side hustle and not everybody can afford to buy all their equipment up front and hopefully pay it off eventually through making tiny money from a couple thousand subs. You don't appear to be doing too badly in life so either RU-vid is not your main income or you inherited well XD. Many agencies in Japan pay a basic salary and earnings are split with the company. The guy yelling is the president of Akane's company who gets their talents work and obviously he's upset at not seeing results because he probably hoped that it would be a big break for a promising talent. The manager is also being paid to help her do this so is taking the flack. This episode is based on a real incident when a wrestler Hana Kimura was on a reality TV show where producers encouraged her to play up the tough wrestler role and fight with a popular member of the cast. She was attacked heavily on social media and commit suicide, though this was in her home with carbon monoxide inhalation. A lot of the social media messages shown on screen are directly copied from the Hana Kimura case. Many things in the series are based on real life events. The first episode with the stabbing I believe is based on Mayu Tomita who was confronted by an irate fan after she returned an expensive gift he sent and then stabbed several times (she actually survived though), she was a TV actress and singer and played a character called Ai in an idol group on a TV show.
Aka Akasaka felt there was too much humour last episode, needed to reinforce the soul-crushing depression. Keep us on our toes. Being serious, this is one of the best episodes of anything this season. Based on a true story, including many of the tweets here being word for word what was said IRL that caused her suicide.
In other words, it's the calm before the storm episode... Every anime has it... If the anime has death theme all over it but then it got one lighthearted episode, it always means it gonna be REALLY dark in the next episode
The framing of this episode is very well done as well, since it starts with someone wanting to "leave" the show due to bullying at school, even if it was done for drama effect. Then proceeds into the actual internet bullying and what that does to a person.
The sad thing is that pretty much everyone who watched this episode will agree and say the same thing about how bad trash talking is but will still do it. Maybe not about acting,youtubing, etc. but people will make excuses to justify doing it for other reasons such as politics, religion, losing in video games, etc. All of such people are the same.
Watching this show makes you realise that PPL online do this kinda stuff and don't realise it's aftereffects. This kinda thing may seem small but it affects those who are on the other side of the bullying
